A Quality Match from the Dark Days of NJPW

Katsuyori Shibata comes into this match fired up and starts laying into Koji Kanemoto before Koji even has the chance to take off his ring jacket. Shibata explodes with some of the flashier moves possible in professional wrestling that you would never see in sports like MMA or kickboxing. Perhaps Shibata’s preference for these maneuvers is one reason why he has a losing record in MMA and kickboxing.

Kanemoto doesn’t take Shibata’s assault lightly and after Shibata has knocked him all over the ring then to the outside and back again Kanemoto begins to to battle back. It isn’t long before Koji has gotten his nemesis in the corner and is dishing out a chest welting chopfest! The action continues and Kanemoto wears him down by locking on some submissions. Perhaps the two funniest parts of the match are when Kanemoto kicks Shibata and Shibata demands more leading Kanemoto to immediately knock him down with another kick and when Kanemoto lands a second rope senton. This second move is gold because Koji performs it in the middle of a slower more methodical offense. Out of nowhere he just decides to do an extremely fast paced and difficult move then goes back to his more relaxed attacks like nothing happened.